README.rdoc

RAKE – Ruby Make

This package contains Rake, a simple ruby build program with capabilities
similar to make.

Rake has the following features:

Rakefiles (rake's version of Makefiles) are completely defined in
standard Ruby syntax. No XML files to edit. No quirky Makefile syntax to
worry about (is that a tab or a space?)

Users can specify tasks with prerequisites.

Rake supports rule patterns to synthesize implicit tasks.

Flexible FileLists that act like arrays but know about manipulating file
names and paths.

A library of prepackaged tasks to make building rakefiles easier. For
example, tasks for building tarballs and publishing to FTP or SSH sites.
(Formerly tasks for building RDoc and Gems were included in rake but
they're now available in RDoc and RubyGems respectively.)

Supports parallel execution of tasks.

Installation

Gem Installation

Download and install rake with the following.

gem install rake

Usage

Simple Example

First, you must write a “Rakefile” file which contains the build rules.
Here's a simple example:

task :default => [:test]
task :test do
ruby "test/unittest.rb"
end

This Rakefile has two tasks:

A task named “test”, which - upon invocation - will run a unit test file in
Ruby.

A task named “default”. This task does nothing by itself, but it has
exactly one dependency, namely the “test” task. Invoking the “default” task
will cause Rake to invoke the “test” task as well.

Running the “rake” command without any options will cause it to run the
“default” task in the Rakefile: